Call On Me
Chapter Fifteen-A Cry For Help
I continued to walk down the corridor until I came across Remus' classroom. Dumbledore had changed his schedules to Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. We would see each other on Monday's but then the rest of the week we'd miss each other. Remus was facing the students and talking about the Lictrien Charm. I leaned against the door frame and folded my arms over my chest. I felt a smile forming on my face as I watched him.
He was carefully explaining the charm to the class. They were watching him with rapt attention.
He looked up and saw me.
"Hello, Professor Andrews," he said politely. "What brings you to the class?"
All students turned around and looked at me.
"I just bumped into Professor Snape," I said in a sweet tone, hoping Remus would pick up on it. "He seems very eager to meet us, Professor Lupin."
Realization dawned on Remus' face. He knew what I meant.
"Oh," Remus said. "Well, then Professor Andrews…after class, we shall meet him."
He looked at me before returning his attention back to the class.
"How about if Professor Andrews and I demonstrate the Lictrien Charm for you?"
The class cheered and clapped.
I stepped into the classroom and walked up the center aisle between the Gryffindor third years and the Slytherin third years.
"Professor Andrews is hot," I heard a third year Slytherin whisper to someone next to him.
I bristled, but said nothing. Remus and I faced each other and took our wands out.
We aimed our wands at each other and took a fencing position.
"Ready?" Remus asked.
I nodded.
"On the count of three," he continued.
I could feel the students watching us with absolutely attention.
"One…two…three,"
"Lictrinus!" I said.
A jet of orange shot out from the tip of my wand and hit Remus in the chest. The charm was designed to briefly burn the attacker and knock him out for a few seconds.
Remus cried out and fell backward.
The class cried out with excitement and watched for Remus to recover. But a few seconds turned into minutes and panic bells began going off in my head.
I crouched down beside Remus.
"Professor Lupin?" I demanded anxiously shaking him.
I started panicking and getting upset.
His eyes opened and he propped himself up onto his elbows, breaking into a huge grin.
"Gotcha," he grinned.
The class shrieked with relieved laughter and they began talking excitedly amongst themselves.
"Now that kids, is a sure fire way of making sure your attacker doesn't try to continue to attack," Remus explained. "By playing dead."
The students continued to talk excitedly.
"For homework tonight, I want you all to bring in 'Secret Charms and their Uses.' for tomorrows lesson. The library has a lot of copies of it."
I felt anger boiling up inside me. That was not funny at all.
I angrily threw my wand at him. It bounced off his chest and landed in his lap.
I got to my feet and stormed out of the classroom.
REMUS.
Caitlin threw her wand at me and it bounced off my chest, landing in my lap. She stormed out of the classroom. I've never seen her this angry…and I knew from the expression she had on her face, I was in the dog house.
I tucked her wand and my wand into my robe and got to my feet and faced the class.
I checked my watch. Class was over. I took a seat behind my desk and rested my elbows on top of it and clasped my hands and propped my chin up. I felt really guilty for pulling that.
Sure enough, the bell rang ending DATDA and the students all left, still buzzing over the prank I had pulled.
A Gryffindor third year named Kelly Smith approached my desk apprehensively.
"P-Professor Lupin?" she stammered nervously.
"Yes?"
"Is the book you want us to read?" she reached into her bag and pulled out a textbook. She handed it to me. I took it and looked at the cover.
"Modern Charms and Tricks?" I read aloud. "No. One of the books is called "Secret Charms and their Uses."
"Oh," Kelly said looking crestfallen as I handed the book back to her.
I gave her a smile.
"Don't worry," I said softly. "Ask Madam Pince to find it for you. I mean the charm is in there, but the information I'm looking for is in the one I suggested."
"Thanks," Kelly said as she turned and left the classroom.
I looked after her quizzically. There was something about her that wasn't sitting right with me. Shaking my head, I headed off to find Caitlin.
Caitlin completely ignored me for the rest of the day.
Whenever we saw each other, she gave me a cold look before disappearing.
I went to bed that night feeling even worse.
The next afternoon, I headed back to my classroom. Caitlin had today off and was helping the second year students we had met with their Charms.
I entered my classroom and dropped my stuff on top of the desk. I turned and faced the class.
"I hope you all have the copies of 'Secret Charms and their Uses,"
The class all nodded, and oddly, Kelly didn't.
"Miss Smith? Do you have your copy?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said shiftily.
I headed over to her desk and stood next to her, peering down at the textbook that was on top of the desk.
It was called "Charms and Charmz: The A-Z Differences".
"This is the wrong book," I said. "This is 'Charms and Charmz: The A-Z Differences.'"
The Slytherins began laughing and chortling. Kelly began turning red and looking as though she'd love to disappear under the desk.
I looked up and glared at them.
"Enough," I said firmly.
They stopped and cleared their throats.
"See me after class," I said.
'Ooh's' went around.
"Everyone begin reading chapter one in 'Secret Charms and their Uses."
An hour later, I looked up.
"For tonight's homework, I want one scroll explaining in detail the Lictrien Charm and the Pros and Cons of this spell,"
The bell rang ending class. The Slytherins were laughing and calling Kelly 'retarded' as they left. I glared at them.
"You three will have detention for the next week," I said angrily at them.
They immediately stopped laughing and left the classroom. Kelly remained in her seat nervously playing with her quill. She had shoulder length ash blond hair and blue eyes.
I crouched down beside her and looked up at her. She kept her eyes on the quill.
"What happened?" I asked gently. "I told the class what book to get yesterday."
She didn't reply.
"Kelly? Please tell me what happened," I prompted gently "Did you ask Madam Pince for the book? Were there not enough copies?"
"No I didn't ask her for the book and yes there was," she said quietly. "I guess I just picked up the wrong book."
"This was the second time you had the wrong book," I said. "Please tell me the truth so I can help you if there's a problem."
Kelly looked at me. There were tears in her eyes.
"I'm Dyslexic," she replied.
"Please stop by my office later okay? I can try and help you," I said kindly.
"No," she said. "You can't help."
With that, she gathered up her things and tore from the classroom.
I stood up and stared after her.
No wonder she couldn't read the book titles...the words would be all mixed up
I thought sadly. I gathered my things and headed into my office.
I had my arms crossed on top of my desk and had my head buried in them when 20 minutes later there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," I called hoping Kelly had changed her mind.
The door opened and it was Caitlin.
"Hey," I said softly.
Caitlin stepped into my office and stood right in front of my desk. She slapped me on the cheek.
"That was really not funny, Remus," she said angrily, her honey brown eyes flashing.
"Lin, I'm so sorry," I apologized earnestly. "I feel really guilty about it."
"You should," she snapped. "That scared the shit out of me! I thought the spell had gone wrong!"
"I'm really sorry," I apologized again looking at her pleadingly. "Please forgive me?"
Caitlin continued to glare at me.
After a while she exhaled loudly.
"Fine," she said curtly. "Don't ever do it again."
I nodded.
"How's teaching coming along?" she asked sitting down in front of my desk and crossing her legs.
"Do you know Kelly Smith?" I asked.
Caitlin frowned. "Yeah…she's in my class on Wednesdays,"
"She just told me she's Dyslexic," I replied. "Don't let the other kids pick on her. See if you can try and help her."
Caitlin nodded.
"I'll try,"
I began feeling a bit better.
She got up and stretched. "Sorry I slapped you. I was just angry,"
"I deserved it," I replied.
I stepped around the desk and gave her a hug and kiss before she left the office.
I sat back down and ended up dozing off in the office, hoping that maybe Kelly would come. She never came.
The next morning, Caitlin and I sat at the Head table and eagerly ate our breakfast. I was sitting next to Professor Dumbledore and Caitlin was on his right side.
I looked over at the Gryffindor table and Caitlin was sitting alone, eating her pancakes. I felt awful for her and really wanted to help her.
Today was my day off so I decided to just enjoy the weather and relax and sit in my office getting some reading done.
I headed to my office and took a seat behind my desk. I pulled out my book and began reading.
About 3 minutes later, there was a knock on my door.
I looked up.
"Come in," I called.
The door opened Kelly stepped in.
"Miss Smith," I said brightly. "What can I do for you?"
She sat down in one of the leather chairs in front of my desk and hugged her backpack to her chest.
"I-I'm not able to do the homework for tomorrow," she stammered.
I sighed.
"Kelly, I want to help you okay? I can help you with the homework,"
She paused.
"Fine," she finally agreed.
I smiled.
"Perfect. What class do you have now?"
"Charms with Professor Andrews,"
"I know for a fact she won't mind you missing class," I said. "Take out parchment and a quill."
She immediately reached into her bag and pulled them out. I took out my own copy of Secret Charms and their Uses and got up and sat down next to her. I began helping her decipher the words.
We spent the next 3 hours reading the first chapter and Kelly began slowly writing the paragraph I had wanted on the scroll.
She left the office and I felt much happier now.
That night at dinner, I told Caitlin what had happened.
"I wondered why she hadn't returned back to class," she said her lip twitching. "She had asked me if she could use the bathroom and then 'poof' she was gone."
I smiled.
"She finally let me help her," I said. "That was a good feeling."
"I'm sure," Caitlin said. "I've got a similar problem with Danielle. She is disruptive in class but I know there's something deeper going on with that girl."
"Did you try talking with her?" I asked.
Caitlin shook her head.
"She won't even spend 3 minutes alone with me," she said sadly. "It's as if she doesn't trust adults or something."
"Keep trying," I said earnestly. "I'm sure one day she'll just come to you and open up."
Caitlin sighed.
"I hope so,"
I put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. I looked up and saw Professor Snape eyeing us.
He gave me a sneer. I raised an eyebrow at him before returning my attention onto my dinner.
CAITLIN.
After dinner, Remus and I headed to the Gryffindor tower. Once all the students had gone to bed, Remus and I curled up in front of the gentle crackling fire.
"It's so peaceful," I said sighing happily as I snuggled up against him.
"I know," he said. "There's a full moon tomorrow. I suggest you and Lily come with me to the Shrieking Shack."
"Speaking of Lily," I said suddenly. "Where is she?"
"She's around," Remus said earnestly. "I bet she's just floating around doing nothing."
I sighed.
"She's alright, Caitlin," Remus said correctly interpreting my sigh. "She's fine. I can sense it. Don't worry."
"It's just that vision I had on the train," I said shivering. "It was if James was warning me…but about what I don't know."
"Try not to worry too much okay?" Remus said giving me a kiss on my lips.
I suddenly felt Remus' body tensing up.
"What's wrong?" I demanded alert.
"There's a girl screaming in the dorm," he said.
Immediately, I flew off the couch and we tore into the girl's dorm.
The lights were on and Kelly was sitting up in bed covered in a red liquid.